This invention relates generally to the art of portable room dividers, and more particularly, it relates to a type of room divider which allows environmental control of particular task areas being defined by the room dividers.
Many office buildings, as well as other buildings, are constructed with large open floor space from which smaller individual work, or task, areas are carved by portable room dividers, or partitions. A difficulty encountered when employing such partitions is that, since the shapes and sizes of the task areas are not usually predictable when the building is built, they form obstacles to environmental control. That is, lighting, heating, and cooling are designed for the floor space as a whole, but the partitions often hamper the design so that one employee's task area might be too dark, another employee's task area might be too cool, etc. This problem is complicated in that environmental conditions change between winter and summer, so that the same employees who are too cool in summer might be too warm in winter, etc. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a room divider which can be used to define work spaces in an open room without adversely affecting environmental control of specific task areas.
In any event, managers of large buildings usually have a difficult time pleasing all occupants, in any case, with regard to the environment. What is too warm for one person is pleasing to another person; what is too cool for a third person is yet not cool enough for a fourth person, It is likewise unsatisfying for occupants to not have control of their environment and to often have to live under environmental conditions pleasing to others, but not themselves. Thus, it is another object of this invention to provide room dividers which will allow environmental control by individuals occupying specific areas. In achieving this purpose, this invention tends to promote satisfaction of employees by enabling them to control their environment.
Large buildings often have much unused space therein which nevertheless, is allowed to dissipate unnecessary environmental-control energy. For example, tall ceilings of buildings often have lights therein which are positioned quite far from the people using them. Thus, light is transmitted over whole rooms, and to many areas in which is it not needed. Similarly, some areas in which there are no people, or people only occupy in transit, are unnecessarily heated and cooled, which is wasteful. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method and system for controlling the environment of specific task areas within large rooms without the wasting of energy in adjacent areas.
In large buildings where there are numerous lights, the lights, ballasts, and other elements generate an inordinate amount of heat energy which, quite often, is thrown away as waste heat or, even worse, is allowed to detract from operation of an existing environmental control system. In the wintertime, when heat from the lights could be used for heating work areas of the building, the heat from ceiling lights is often left on the ceiling where it is too far from people to significantly aid in keeping them warm. In the summertime, when attempts are being made to aircondition buildings, heat from lights tends to cancel out a portion of the airconditioning, which is economically undesirable. Still further, when heat is left in lighting enclosures, so that it elevates the temperature of light bulbs, it reduces the life span of the light bulbs. Thus, it is yet another object of this invention to provide a method and system for recapturing heat from light bulbs and beneficially processing the heat.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a room divider, or partition, that acts as an efficient sound absorber and also produces its own locally controllable "white sound", or environmental sound, for masking sounds in a room.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a light fixture which produces exceptionally high quality, individually adjustable, and pleasing light.